Romanian Arrested with ATM Skimming Devices in Stamford Pleads Guilty

A 29-year-old Romanian man pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to his role in an ATM skimming scheme, authorities announced that afternoon. 

According to Deirdre M. Daly, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Ionut-Iullian Vlad conspired to install skimming devices on ATMs at Bank of America locations around Connecticut. The skimmers were used to capture the personal information contained in magnetic strips on bank cards used by ATM customers. Vlad and his co-conspirators also installed hidden pinhole cameras at the ATM locations used to record the PINs of those same customers, so the group could then gain access to those accounts, Daly said in a release.

Vlad and his co-conspirators used the information obtained at the ATMs to create counterfeit bank cards, which they then used to withdraw more than $100,000 in funds from customer accounts, Daly said in the release. 

Vlad was captured on surveillance video in February of 2013 while he removed the skimmers and pinhole cameras from Bank of America ATMs in Wallingford and Greenwich. He was detained by Stamford Police on March 2, 2013, while in possession of the skimming tools and double-sided tape, Daly said. 

Vlad faces a maximum imprisonment of up to 30 years, up to $1 million in fines and an order of restitution at his sentencing on November 8, 2013.